Protecting and Growing Self and Wealth in These Uncertain Times

Back on February 25, I started discussing backup heating for the house my girlfriend and I purchased in 2013. I blogged:

Last Friday, incredibly strong winds (max gust speed 62 mph) pummeled the Chicagoland area. Not surprisingly, we lost power for a few hours- along with the heat. As I lay in bed recovering from the flu and buried under the covers, I thought to myself, “It’s a good thing it isn’t that cold outside today considering its February in Chicago.”

Later on I started thinking about what my girlfriend and I would do if the electricity had been out for a longer stretch of time while the outside temperatures were more “seasonal.”

I decided to look into a backup heat source for the house once I was up and about again…

I initially thought a vent-free natural gas heater, installed on a basement wall adjacent to the utility room, was the solution. But as I wrote in my last “Project Prepper” entry:

I’m starting to like the idea of a natural gas-powered stationary (standby) generator above and beyond the vent-free heater. The standby generator would allow us to keep using the furnace to heat the house and run other essentials in the event of a power outage…

Now, our HVAC guy did come out to the house to discuss a new heating, ventilating, and air conditioning system for the structure- which my girlfriend and I subsequently agreed to purchase. But not before I confirmed the setup could be tied into a natural gas-powered stationary (standby) generator down the road. When asked if he knew someone qualified to install such a generator, he informed me his brother-in-law does such work. Nice.

In the meantime, while the Chicagoland winter was pretty tame this year (especially when compared to the last two), I’d still like to bridge the gap with some temporary backup heating setup until we can afford to buy a stationary generator. I’m leaning towards picking up a Big Buddy Portable Heater by Mr. Heater after reading a number of decent reviews about the product. From its “Description” page on the Mr. Heater website:

The Most Popular Portable Propane Heater in North America. This patented radiant 4,000-18,000 BTU Liquid Propane heater connects directly to two 1 lb. cylinders and is the perfect solution for heating enclosed spaces like cabins up to 400 sq. ft. An integrated fan increases the heating capacity of this unit, blending radiant and convection style heat to give you the best of both worlds. Two swivel regulators give you the ability to adapt usage from disposable cylinders to a remote gas supply with the purchase of a single hose and filter. To light the unit, simply push and rotate the knob. The built in Piezo sparking mechanism will take care of the rest. With the Oxygen Depletion Sensor (ODS) and accidental tip-over safety shut-off, you can be sure that you will enjoy years of comfortable indoor safe heat.

Last Friday I blogged about India’s safe deposit box industry in light of that country’s “currency experiment.” Specifically, I noted the following from a November 26 article on The Economic Times (India) website: Listen carefully and you might hear a creaky, squeaky noise. It is the sound of safe deposit boxes in security vaults across […]

Malca-Amit, “widely recognized as the world’s leader in diamonds, jewellery and precious metals logistics and storage,” recently launched its UltraVault safe deposit box service in Asia. According to the UltraVault website: Our innovative portable safe deposit box enables you to: -View, withdraw or store your assets any time of the day or night -Select the […]

I’ve had India on my mind recently. In particular, I’ve been thinking about the country’s safe deposit box industry in light of the ongoing “currency experiment.” Vikram Doctor over at The Economic Times (India) has also been speculating as to what the blitzkrieg on cash means for safe deposit boxes, publishing a piece entitled “Crackdown […]

Back on February 2 I blogged about James Wesley, Rawles (comma not a typo), an author, lecturer, and founder/Senior Editor of SurvivalBlog.com, a preparedness blog that receives more than 320,000 unique visits per week. The former U.S. Army intelligence officer had just advised SurvivalBlog readers to “get a safe deposit box offshore, and store some […]

Just wanted to wish the American readers of Offshore Safe Deposit Boxes a Happy Thanksgiving. Thank you for your continued readership and support (that applies to everyone!). Christopher E. Hill Editor